सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
India. The joy of bathing in the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges rivers is clearly visible on the faces of the devotees. Even though their bodies were tired after coming from far away, the joy of arriving here was reflected on their faces.
In the Mahakumbh held after 144 years, lakhs of devotees who came to attain merit were seen taking a dip in the bathing place built on one bank of the river, chanting the name of God.
This place is considered religiously special due to the belief that the Ganges and Yamuna meet along with the Saraswati river in Prayagraj. However, the Saraswati River is currently not visible.
The number of people visiting the Mahakumbh Mela, which began last month in Prayagraj, Uttarakhand state, India, has been increasing day by day, said Gagan Yadav, information officer of the Mahakumbh Mela.
10 to 30 million devotees are visiting every day. ‘To count the people visiting the Mahakumbh, cameras based on artificial intelligence (AI) have been installed at every intersection. Based on that, the number of visitors has been estimated. The highest number of devotees in a single day has been more than 30 million, he said.
The number of devotees arriving here has increased significantly in the days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dip in the Mahakumbh. ‘The number of devotees has been increasing in the last five days, it has become difficult for us to manage,’ he said. So far, more than 450 million have attended the Mahakumbh Mela.
He informed that devotees have come from various countries including Nepal. He estimates that 550 million devotees will come by the day the Mela concludes.
Information Officer Yadav said that Nepal can also benefit from the Mahakumbh Mela by promoting religious tourism. Most of the devotees coming to the Mahakumbh are reaching the temple of Lord Ram in Ayodhya and the temple of Vishwanath Baba in Varanasi.
Similarly, they can be taken to famous pilgrimage sites in Nepal such as Pashupatinath, Muktinath and Lumbini, Yadav said.
Efficient management
Despite the unexpected increase in the number of people coming to participate in the Mahakumbh from different countries of the world, the fair management is efficient .
A river bank has been arranged so that all devotees can bathe. A venue has also been built for local, national and international media to conduct ‘podcasting’ with residential facilities.
Also, temporary accommodation has been constructed for visitors. According to Information Officer Yadav, the Indian government has so far spent 75 billion rupees to run the fair.
What is Mahakumbh?
The first Mahakumbh Mela is believed to have been organized 850 years ago. Adi Shankaracharya initiated the Mahakumbh.
Some mythological stories also describe the organization of Kumbh after the churning of the ocean. The famous Chinese traveler Hengsang mentioned the Kumbh Mela during his trip to India.
According to Hengsang, King Harshvardhan used to organize big events at the confluence of rivers every five years. Through these events, he would donate some part of the state’s wealth to religious people.
Apart from that, the glory of Kumbh is mentioned in the Shiva Purana, Matsya Purana, Padma Purana and Bhavishya Purana. When the pot of nectar came out during the churning of the ocean, the gods and demons fought over the pot of nectar.
To reduce the conflict, Lord Vishnu took the form of Mohini. Then, when the struggle between the gods and the demons began to increase, Jayanta, the son of Indradev, was entrusted with the pot of nectar.
Jayanta took the form of a crow, snatched the pot of nectar from the demons and started flying. It is believed that some drops of nectar fell in Prayagraj, Ujjain, Haridwar and Nashik during his flight. The Kumbh Mela began to be held at the place where the nectar fell.
प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोस्